Spatial and temporal trends in
dissolved oxygen concentrations and
dissolved oxygen depletion (hypoxia)
in the Delaware River Basin Demonstration Area
of the National Monitoring Network
for Coastal Waters and Their Tributaries
Water Quality Workshop
January 25, 2010 Baltimore, Maryland
Eric Vowinkel, USGS/NJWSC
vowinkel@usgs.gov
Bob Tudor, DRBC
Robert.Tudor@drbc.state.nj.us
Water Quality Issues
For the Delaware River Basin for dissolved oxygen (DO):
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Evaluate of the spatial (horizontal and vertical) and temporal distributions
(status, trends, and current) [DO] and DO depletion in the Delaware River
Basin from the head of tide to the Atlantic Ocean.
Determine the aquatic health (Clean Water Act) of the water in rivers
above the head of tide, estuaries, wetlands, coastal areas, and ocean
areas of the Delaware Basin as per criteria set by the Delaware River
Basin Commission (DRBC) and the individual states in the Basin.
Evaluate of the use of continuous/real time, discrete, and probabilistic
observations of [DO] by agencies including DRBC, USGS, USEPA, NOAA,
and States, and water utilities and universities. (All observations have
value but some are more valuable than others)
Evaluate the effects of nutrients and other water-quality constituents on
DO concentrations in water
Relate of DO depletion to the biology of the Delaware Basin such as the
shad population
User Community:
Who cares and benefits from these products?
 Federal (NOAA, USEPA, USGS, USACOE),
Interstate (DRBC), State (NY, PA, NJ, DE),
and local water-quality managers and
scientists
 water and wastewater utilites
 commerce as the Delaware Estuary is one
of Nation’s largest ports
 fishermen
 the public
Process:
(coupling monitoring, models and other tools for
enhanced assessment that benefits management
decisions from the watersheds to nearshore to coasts)
 Networks: Integration across multiple
programs and networks
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NOAA: NEERS , PORTS, MW
USEPA: NCA
USGS: NAWQA, NASQAN
DRBC: Boat Run
-- States
-- Universities
-- Partnership Del Est (PDE)
-- National Monitoring Network
 Linking continuous monitoring stations,
discrete, and probabilistic data to DRBC / State
Water Quality Criteria by DRBC Zone
 Integration of models and other assessment
tools with monitoring
DISSOLVED OXYGEN IN THE DELAWARE BASIN AND ESTUARY
USGS CONTINUOUS-REAL TIME AND DISCRETE DATA AND DRBC and UDEL BOAT RUN DATA
AT BEN FRANKLIN BRIDGE
AT TRENTON
USEPA NCA Data 2001-2007
AT REEDY ISLAND
AT CHESTER
All data are unpublished
and subject to revision
Selected water quality in the
Delaware Estuary by
kilometer by decade and season
Dissolved oxygen (DO)
Nitrate (NO3)
Ammonia (NH4)
Models or Applications
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 Delaware River Real Time Monitoring for Real Time
Management by Yagecic of DRBC
 Nowcasting to Protect Public Water Supply: Using Real
Time Data in an Emergency Flow and Transport Model
by Suk and Yagecic of DRBC
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– National
-- Regional
-- Local (Delaware Basin)
 Probability contamination of ground water and surface
water in NJ (by Baker and Vowinkel of USGS/NJWSC (in review)
Outcomes:
Management outcomes/decisions that results from the assessment and
(or)development of dynamic management tools: Applications to support
or inform decision-making (preferably in real-time and in predictive mode)
 Coordination with Federal, Interstate, State and local
water-quality managers to plan for short term and long
term remediation of water quality
 Improvements to wastewater treatment and nonpoint
source controls (ie Philly Water)
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 More refined assessment and coordination among
water-quality-data users
 Adaptive monitoring in cases where DO exceeds a
water-quality criterion in an zone
Metrics for tracking
success and measuring
performance
Value added from advances
in technology (i.e. sensors),
assessment tools, or
process
 Need to conduct a
 Directly feeding the data
cost/benefit analysis for
from sensor into
different observation
frameworks that use the
methods
data
 Better integrated
 React to problems in real
assessments over time by
time
using “all” the data
 Better able to determine
 Monitoring at a more
diurnal, seasonal, and
valuable frequency
monthly variability of DO
and other water-quality in
different compartments of
the system.
Gaps and needs from
improved outcomes
 Need better coverage of real time DO in
shallow waters in estuary near streams
 Need better continuous coverage at the
boundary of the system by using the Cape May
Ferry
 Need sensors that correspond to assessment
such as nitrate, ammonia, phosphorus,
chlorophyll, PARs, etc.
 Opportunities to look at combined parameters
for resource-specific assessments.
Summary
 Observations indicate that there has been
significant improvement in [DO] in the estuary
 All observations have value but some are more
valuable than others
 The shad are running again after a long time of not
being able to get past Chester and Philadelphia to
spawn in the freshwater of the Schuylkill River and
the mainstem of the Delaware above Trenton
 Hopefully more improvements in water quality will
happen with time